Sen Hollis French speaks at the Resurrect Arts in late June, 2013. Heidi Zemach photo

Senator Hollis French, an Anchorage Democrat who has served in the state Senate since 2003, filed preliminary paperwork today to run for governor in 2014. If he decides to run, he will be up against Governor Sean Parnell, who is running for re-election as a Republican, and Bill Walker, the former mayor of Valdez, also Republican, who decided to run as an Independent.

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French was in Seward this past summer, speaking at the Resurrect Art Coffee House and Gallery in favor of putting a referendum before Alaska voters in 2014 repealing SB 21, the new billion dollar oil tax overhaul that was passed in the last legislative session. He was joined in Seward by Alaska pioneer Vic Fischer and the no on -21 campaign and they gathered signatures at Safeway. The oil tax issue will likely dominate the election and the lead up to it. Parnell, of course, led the tax state’s reform efforts. Walker also opposes it.